Detroit

Detroit is the largest city in the US state of Michigan, serving as the seat of Wayne County in the southeastern corner of the state. The city was founded as Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit on 24 July 1701 by French explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, and it became an incorporated city of the United States on 13 September 1806. During the 19th century, the city became an industrial hub, and it became known as "Motor City" for being home to the booming automobile industry at the start of the 20th century. During the 1950s and 1960s, the construction of a freeway system led to the suburban expansion of the city, but industrial restructuring during the 1970s and the loss of manufacturing jobs led to the city's population dropping by 25%; it shrunk from over 1,800,000 people in 1950 to 713,777 people in 2010 as more and more laid-off manufacturing workers moved out of the city. Detroit became one of America's most dangerous cities, and it became full of burnt-out buildings, abandoned warehouses, decaying infrastructure, and derelict homes, with poverty, crime, and urban blight becoming serious problems in the city. In 2015, the city had a population of 677,116 people, with more people leaving the former capital of the automobile industry as the years went by.